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Sahara Issue: National Congress of Chile Adopts Resolution in Support of Morocco’s Autonomy Initiative

The National Congress of Chile voted by a huge majority, on Wednesday in Valparaiso, to support a resolution in support of the Moroccan autonomy initiative.

The vote was 66 in favour to 11 against, with 22 abstentions. According to the rules of the National Congress, abstentions are counted with votes in favour.

Chile’s National Congress lauded the pre-eminence of the Sahara autonomy plan proposed by Morocco, which was hailed by the United Nations and the entire international community as a serious and credible initiative for the final settlement of this regional dispute.

In this regard, Chilean MPs said that the Moroccan initiative is “a serious and credible effort, which will undoubtedly enable the Sahara population to exercise their right to self-determination, by democratically managing their own affairs through legislative, executive and judicial bodies with exclusive powers under the sovereignty of Morocco “.

Since its presentation to the United Nations on April 10, 2007, Morocco’s autonomy proposal for the Sahara region has been approved by the Security Council, which has unanimously adopted resolutions 1754, 1783 and 1813 and deemed the initiative as “serious and credible”, the resolution said.

The text also underscored the support of the international community, which described the Moroccan initiative as “an opportunity to advance in the settlement of an issue that is running for more than thirty years now”, taking into account the “inapplicability of the referendum “.

Following the UN’s call for a final and mutually acceptable political solution, Morocco presented in April 2007 an initiative for the negotiation of an autonomy status in the Sahara region, the source said, adding that the broad autonomy plan proposed by Morocco to settle the regional dispute over the Sahara leads to a “win-win situation” and enable the Sahara’s population to manage their affairs in a democratic, inclusive and participatory manner.

The resolution noted that Morocco has made significant progress in the democratization of the country where the institutions in charge of the fight against human rights abuses are autonomous, adding that that the experience of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER) provided a model that many countries are studying in order to adopt it to help them tackle past human rights abuses.

According to this resolution, the National Congress calls on the Chilean government, in its capacity as member of the United Nations, to support and commit to the UN Security Council Resolution No. 1754, adopted on April 30, 2007.04/01/2018